News review – Monday 9 October 2017

Brexit

Express
THERESA May will today dramatically raise the stakes in the Brexit negotiations by warning EU chiefs that the “ball is in your court”. In a sign of growing frustration at the slow progress of talks, the Prime Minister will say Brussels must stop its stonewalling. She wants European Union negotiators to come back with a “constructive” response to her proposals for a future trade deal. Mrs May will speak in the Commons this afternoon after Government sources confirmed she has authorised a multi-billion pound overhaul of Britain’s border controls, to be implemented immediately should the Brexit talks collapse. Her remarks are expected to be seen as the clearest signal yet that ministers are drastically accelerating contingency preparations for walking out of the Brussels talks without a deal.

Westmonster
Theresa May is set to tell MPs that “the ball is in the EU’s court” and that she can prove the Brexit “doomsayers” wrong. The fifth round of Brexit negotiations is set to begin today, and May will tell her party, some of whom have allegedly been calling for her head in recent days, that: “By approaching these negotiations in a constructive way – in a spirit of friendship and co-operation and with our sights firmly set on the future – I believe we can prove the doomsayers wrong. “I believe we can seize the opportunities of this defining moment in the history of our nation. A new, deep and special partnership between a sovereign United Kingdom and a strong and successful European Union is our ambition and our offer to our European friends. “Achieving that partnership will require leadership and flexibility, not just from us but from our friends, the 27 nations of the EU.

Times
Theresa May will warn European leaders today that Britain will make no more concessions on Brexit until they compromise on opening trade and transition talks. The embattled prime minister will use a statement to the House of Commons to tell other member states that “the ball is in their court” as British negotiators return to Brussels. She will also implicitly warn of the risk of talks breaking down, calling for both sides to be constructive and “prove the doomsayers wrong”. Senior government sources said the prime minister’s statement made clear that she had “offered what we were going to offer” in her speech in Florence and it was now up to the EU leaders to decide whether sufficient progress had been made.

Sun
THERESA May will today pile pressure on the EU to break the Brexit deadlock by saying: “The ball is in your court.” She will tell MPs Britain has laid out a clear vision for a two-year transition continuing our £9billion-a-year contributions until 2021. Ahead of a summit with EU counterparts next week, the PM will urge more flexibility so they can start addressing Britain’s post-Brexit trading relationship. And as she aims to move on from her disastrous conference speech, she will declare the UK can get a deal to prove the anti-Brexit “doomsayers” wrong. In a Commons statement on her Florence speech a fortnight ago Mrs May will say she wants a “special partnership” with a successful EU.

IndependentTheresa May will tell the European Union “the ball is in your court” as she urges EU negotiators to show more “flexibility” in finding a deal that will be beneficial to both sides. In a statement to the House of Commons when it returns from the conference season recess, the Prime Minister will repeat the central message of her Florence speech – that the UK seeks a “deep and special partnership” with the EU. But she will tell European leaders: “Achieving that partnership will require leadership and flexibility, not just from us but from our friends, the 27 nations of the EU. “And as we look forward to the next stage, the ball is in their court. But I am optimistic we will receive a positive response.

Conservative Party

Times
The prime minister faced calls from senior Tory Brexiteers last night to sack or move her chancellor to reassert her authority over warring ministers. Theresa May has indicated privately that she is considering moving Boris Johnson from his job as foreign secretary as part of a reshuffle. However, senior Conservative Eurosceptics warned that any attempt to demote Mr Johnson would lead to a revolt unless she also moved Philip Hammond. Some went further and called for Mrs May to remove her chancellor unilaterally, saying that he was pushing the party towards “certain election defeat”. A former senior minister said: “Hammond is a complete nightmare and is frankly her biggest problem.

Westmonster
Theresa May has been told to sack either Boris Johnson or Philip Hammond to end Cabinet infighting over Brexit. Calls for Boris to go have been mounting since he broke ranks and presented a positive vision for Brexit in the national press – although Westmonster and Brexiteers across the country were glad to see someone in government display a bit of optimism for life outside the EU. But Team Boris say he’d simply refuse to go if May tried to demote him and he’d threaten to spark a leadership battle. And now Tory insiders are calling for Hammond’s head – one said: “We would love to see her sack Hammond. The point is Boris is the one constantly being accused of being disloyal – but actually the one being disloyal is Philip Hammond.”

Sky News
Theresa May has suggested she would not shy away from demoting Boris Johnson amid reports she is preparing a Cabinet reshuffle. The Prime Minister has faced down a fresh call to resign in recent days, following a party conference speech plagued by a coughing fit, falling scenery and a prankster. In a bid to revitalise her administration, Mrs May is reportedly set to make changes to her top team following the European Council meeting on October 19-20. A Cabinet reshuffle would prompt questions over the future of Boris Johnson, who has faced calls to be sacked over two Brexit interventions which appeared to undermine the PM’s authority.

Mail
Conservative MPs last night demanded Theresa May sack Philip Hammond for dragging his feet over Brexit as part of a reshuffle to reassert her authority. The Prime Minister yesterday vowed she would not ‘hide from a challenge’ amid speculation she could oust Boris Johnson in a shake-up of her Cabinet after she saw off a botched coup in the wake of her conference speech. But last night Brexit-supporting MPs urged her instead to remove the Chancellor, who they accused of being overly pessimistic about Britain’s departure from the EU and constraining efforts to relaunch her premiership.

Guardian
Philip Hammond’s Treasury has come under fire from a leading Conservative leave campaigner, who said that the gloomy outlook and “Brexit in name only” approach of the department risked scuppering the UK’s EU exit. Bernard Jenkin’s highly critical intervention came while other Tory MPs urged Theresa May to sack the chancellor, as those on the right of the party flexed their muscles following days of criticism of Boris Johnson and speculation about an autumn cabinet reshuffle. Nadine Dorries was the only MP to publicly call for Hammond to go, although other Brexit-supporting politicians told the Guardian that concerns about the chancellor were being widely discussed on the Tory backbenches. Jenkin insisted that his intervention was not a personal attack on the chancellor, who he wanted to remain in place, but he wrote in the Guardian to express his unhappiness about the Treasury, which he believes is among the anti-Brexit doomsayers.

Sun
THERESA May was last night under mounting pressure to sack Boris Johnson or Philip Hammond. Tories said it was the only way to end the party’s Brexit infighting. The PM’s closest allies are rowing over whether she should axe Boris as part of a Cabinet revamp. Some are telling her that the Foreign Secretary has to go for “disloyalty” after announcing his own Brexit red lines. But others say any wide-ranging reshuffle risks creating enemies who will snipe from the backbenches. After successfully seeing off a plot to oust her, Mrs May signalled she was ready to take action by vowing to “make the most of the wealth of talent available to me in the party”.

Telegraph
Boris Johnson will “just say no” if Theresa May tries to demote him, his allies have said as they warned sacking him as Foreign Secretary would undermine Brexit and destabilise the Government. The Prime Minister is instead being urged by members of her Cabinet to sack Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, for “making Brexit hard” and being “miserable”. Mrs May indicated that Mr Johnson could be moved into another Cabinet role in a reshuffle at the end of the month, saying that she would not “hide from a challenge”. Her comments prompted a furious response from Mr Johnson’s backers, with one Tory minister saying that there is a “stench of death” emanating from Downing Street.

Independent
Boris Johnson will “just say no” if Theresa May tries to sack him, it has been reported. The Foreign Secretary will apparently just refuse any attempts by the Prime Minister to demote him, who indicated that he could be moved into another Cabinet role in a reshuffle. Allies of Mr Johnson have warned that doing so would undermine Brexit and destabilise the Government. Ms May has been adamant that she will not “hide from a challenge” when dealing with the former Mayor of London, according to the Sunday Times. The remarks led to one Tory minister saying there was a “stench of death” coming from Downing Street and that Ms May lacks the authority to demote Mr Johnson.

Breitbart
Prime Minister Theresa May is set to ‘unlock’ billions of pounds in preparation for a ‘no deal’ with the European Union (EU) in a bid to save her premiership and convince Brexiteers she is able to wrestle the upper hand in negotiations from eurocrats in Brussels. Following confirmation last week from International Trade Secretary Liam Fox that the government is preparing for a ‘no deal’ scenario in the event that the EU continues to play “hardball” during Brexit talks, a Treasury source toldThe Telegraph on Sunday that “Billions of pounds will be unlocked in the new year if progress has not been made. We have to plan for a No Deal.” The billions will be spent on new technology to speed up customs checks at borders in the event of the UK reverting to WTO rules, amongst other measures.

Ireland

Guardian
An invisible border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic after Brexit is impossible and hopes for such an arrangement are “naive”, a leaked report from Ireland’s equivalent of HMRC says. In the most authoritative piece of research so far conducted on the challenges faced in Ireland, Ireland’s Office of the Revenue Commissioners (ORC) concludes that customs posts will be needed, with significant facilities on border roads. “While some form of common travel area may exist post-Brexit, a completely open border is not possible from a customs perspective,” says the report, leaked to the national broadcaster RTÉ. “It is probably somewhat naive to believe that a new and entirely unique arrangement can be negotiated and applied to the EU/UK land frontier.”

Fisheries

Times
Michael Gove is demanding that Britain pull out of Europe’s common fisheries policy immediately after Brexit in a move that Brussels has warned could harm the prospects of a “no change” transition deal. The environment secretary is understood to have told the cabinet that fishing policy must be repatriated as soon as Britain leaves the European Union and not at the end of a two-year implementation period. Mr Gove argued that it would be untenable to allow Brussels to continue to set EU-wide fishing quotas while Britain no longer had a say on those quotas. He is understood to have support from some Remain supporters in the cabinet who argue that pulling Britain out of the policy would be a concrete “win” for the government.

Pakistani women

Mail
Pakistani women living in the UK are ‘shockingly badly integrated’, a Cabinet Office survey is set to reveal. The findings of the UK’s first disparity audit, published in full on Tuesday, hope to shed better light on how people from different backgrounds are treated in regards to their access to healthcare, education, employment and the criminal justice system. For women of Pakistani origin, the audit has revealed a particularly ‘shocking’ situation. A source close to the Cabinet Office told The Sunday Times: ‘Other communities have integrated very well, but the audit shows that Pakistani women who don’t speak English or go out to work are living in an entirely different society and are shockingly badly integrated.’

Social care

Mail
The Tories’ pledge to introduce a cap on social care costs by 2020 has been officially abandoned. David Cameron promised to bring in an upper limit of about £75,000 on the amount people must pay towards their own care. But a senior Government source has said the cap will not be introduced until well into the next decade at the earliest. This means the scandal of enormous care bills eating away at the hard-earned inheritance people were hoping to leave to their children will continue. Ministers are also considering radical plans to encourage all workers to set aside a proportion of their wages each month to pay for their own future social care needs.

NHS

Times
It is too late for a cash injection to save the NHS from a winter crisis, according to a senior health official. A poll of healthcare leaders found that 92 per cent are concerned about their ability to cope as the colder months arrive. Niall Dickson, chief executive of the NHS Confederation which represents all health service organisations, said that there was “an even greater sense of foreboding” this year than last. Writing in The Times today, Mr Dickson warns: “It is becoming hard to overstate the perilous state of the health and care system in England.” His comments came as figures revealed that the number of the most critically ill patients waiting more than an hour for an ambulance has doubled in a year.

Bin collections

Times
Homes in more than three quarters of English council areas have lost their weekly rubbish collections, a survey has revealed. Non-recyclable waste is collected only once every two or three weeks in 248 out of 326 local authorities (76 per cent) despite promises by the government to help to maintain weekly collections. Some councils alternate picking up non-recyclable waste one week and recycling the next, while others collect recycling weekly, research by the Press Association found. Councils and waste companies say the move to fortnightly collections boosts recycling levels and saves money.

Mail
More than three-quarters of families are waiting at least a fortnight for their bins to be collected. Many homes have waste taken away only every three weeks as authorities try to encourage recycling instead. But despite the move, which has even seen some areas of Scotland shift to monthly collections, recycling rates fell last year for the first time. Figures show 248 of 326 English councils run general rubbish rounds fortnightly, though some collect recycling every week. Town halls are trying to hit EU targets of a recycling rate of 50 per cent by 2020. Last month Wigan became the latest to shift to collections every three weeks, which the local authority says will save up to £2million a year.

Sun
THREE in four councils now collect household waste bins just once a fortnight. Six local authorities have even resorted to only doing waste collections once every three weeks. It comes despite households being hit with an average council tax bill of £1,600 after the biggest increase in a decade. Town hall chiefs blamed the alarming drop in bin collections on EU obligations to increase recycling rates to 50 per cent by 2020 – on top of pressure to save money in the face of cuts. It means councils are moving towards more frequent collection of recycled waste and food waste – at the expense of residual household rubbish. An investigation found that 248 out of 326 local authorities across England with responsibility for waste collections run fortnightly general rubbish rounds for some or all households.

Morning Star
MORE than three-quarters of councils now collect non-recyclable waste once a fortnight due to funding cuts, according to a survey published today. The findings by the Press Association show that 248 out of 326 local authorities in England run fortnightly general rubbish rounds for some or all households. Some have gone further. Wigan Council switched to collections of non-recyclable rubbish once every three weeks in September. Director of economy and environment Karl Battersby said the move would help increase recycling and save £2 million a year for the cuts-hit council.

Jails

Times
Prisoners are deliberately getting themselves recalled to jail to smuggle drugs and other contraband to inmates, a watchdog report has warned. Inmates about to be freed are “manipulated” by gangs on jail wings into committing minor breaches of the terms of their release to be returned to prison for short periods. They then come back with small amounts of drugs, particularly so-called legal highs, which can be sold at a huge profit to prisoners. The number of offenders recalled to prison has risen since February 2015 when supervision on release was introduced for offenders serving less than 12 months as part of a drive to reduce reoffending. Until then they had been released without supervision.

North Korea

Mail
The Armed Forces are preparing for a potential war with North Korea, sources have revealed. Officials have been instructed to draw up plans for how Britain would respond if war broke out with Pyongyang amid heightening tensions between the West and dictator Kim Jong-Un. One option involves deploying Britain’s new aircraft carrier – due to be handed over to the Navy later this year – before she has undergone flight trials. Details of the secret operation plan have emerged after Donald Trump warned that ‘only one thing will work’ when it comes to dealing with North Korea, which has continued nuclear and rocket tests despite widespread condemnation.

Telegraph
Britain is reportedly preparing for the possibility of war breaking out with North Korea as concerns rise that another provocative missile test could trigger a military response by the US. North Korea is being closely watched amid fears it could launch another long-range missile test on Tuesday to mark the anniversary of the founding of its ruling party. Bellicose rhetoric from Donald Trump has heightened tensions in the region in recent months, prompting British officials to draw up military plans for a response to a break out of hostilities, it was reported. Among the plans disclosed by the Daily Mail is the deployment of the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, before it has undergone flight trials.

SunBRITAIN’S armed forces are gearing up for a possible war with North Korea, it has been claimed. Top brass have reportedly been tasked with drawing up plans detailing how the UK would respond if a conflict broke out with wannabe warlord Kim Jong-un. One option involves dispatching Britain’s new aircraft carrier, which is set to come into service later this year, before she has even carried out flight trials, reports the Daily Mail. Details have emerged after US President Donald Trump warned that “only one thing will work” when it comes to dealing with North Korea.

About The Author

Debbie has been a journalist for longer than she cares to admit! She has been freelance for the last 15 years and is an associate editor on UKIP Daily, specialising in covering the morning press each day.

You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

Throwing money at the NHS will not solve its ills, until you get to the root cause of *why* it needs more money. It’s like trying to fill a bath tub so you can have a nice soak, only you’ve forgotten to put the plug in. You can keep turning the taps, and hope that there will eventually be enough water in the tub to bathe in, but how much water has been wasted? When all you had to do was address the root of the problem, and put the bloody plug in! Alternatively, see it as trying to fill… Read more »

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10 months ago

JackT

You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

NHS: More money will not solve the issues of the NHS, many of which are caused by gross inefficiency, possibly accompanied by a dose of incompetence. I am not criticising the medical staff by this comment but the shambolic administration. How on earth can I justify such criticism of an organisation which is held, for the most part, in high regard? Answer: from direct experience over the past several months. The actual injury is of no consequence to this post but started with an early morning attendance at A & E several months ago. The problem was obvious to me… Read more »

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10 months ago

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